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Thursday, 19 April 2012

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: Q

Q Smell:

liQuorice - [This smell has such a lovely memory for me that I can justify my first A to Z cheat!]

Grandma lived near a sweet factory and the smell of liquorice always reminds me of visiting her. We had to wait by the factory's extractor fans for the bus home and in the summer the smell of liquorice attracted every wasp in Leicester!

Q Memories:Mary Quant -
This was an exciting time for fashion especially as I was a young teenager. There was hair:

Vidal Sassoon cutting Mary Quant's hair

I would have loved a mod hairstyle like Mary Quant's but my hair would never lie flat enough. And then there were the mini-skirted dresses:

Twiggy modelling a Mary Quant dress

I adored my tiny dresses. Great Auntie Alice, a private dressmaker, made most of our clothes and she reluctantly cut the hemlines higher and higher for me.

The Queen's Coronation - On June 2nd 1953 Princess Elizabeth was crowned Queen. The country was still recovering from war and this was the perfect opportunity for a celebration. The sale of televisions rocketed as people bought their first ever TV to watch the Coronation. My sister made a scrapbook of Coronation photographs. I wonder what ever happened to it.

Q Programmes:

On TV:
64,000 dollar Question

On Radio:
Quatermass

Anthony Quinn in Portrait in Black

Q Names:

Anthony Quinn

Mary Quant
THE Queen [Not Queen the group. Their first hit wasn't until 1970]

Oh Ros I'd totally forgotten about that scrap book - wish we had it now........

The only Q I could think of yesterday evening was Mary Quant - I knew you would already have her on your blog (and I was right) but you didn't mention that you have a photograph of yourself somewhere in that pile of old pictures with a very similar Mary Quant hairstyle wearing a Quant type mini dress with those wonderful long boots.

I think there was another film star called Anthony - "Quail" if my mind serves me right.

Pat - I am amazed!!!!!! gosh and well done so many Q's - and fancy me forgetting Quiffs...........

Ros can I cheat as well.... and say Queue's - yes those queues outside the Trocadero waiting for the ABC Minors to start on a Saturday morning - remember we used to swap what where called cigarette cards (with film stars photo's on them), while we were waiting...........

I was also going to add Quality Street which was a favourite treat in our house 50s and 60s but I have checked and they have been around since 1936!Maybe it was only later that ordinary folks could afford them.Thanks for more great memories. Nearest I got to Mary Q was a dark green eyeshadow in a pot with her logo on - was v. proud of it but didn't wear it much!AliB

This was a tough one and you stepped up to the plate (a little baseball jargon) beautifully. Look at that tiny waist of the Queen's. I bet she does, longingly, these days too. Que Sera Sera forever remains in my song repertoire. I always sing a few while I make the critter's breakfast. A job well done, Roz.

I loved wearing mini skirts when I was younger. Of course I didn't know how to sit in them properly. I enjoyed hearing Doris Day's song again and want to try to see The Man Who Knew Too Much! I also have a taste for liquorice! Julie

You've spurred another memory for me. Anthony Quinn: When I was in high school I was an extra in little known film called A Walk in the Spring Rain. The stars were Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman. I was among the crowd in a country fair scene as were my parents and sister. They filmed most of it not far from where I lived at the time in East Tennessee.

Another memory I may have to write about after I write my Mr Potato Head post.

Hi Pat, I loved it when Cliff had a quiff [whoops! That sounds funny!] And I also loved Quando, Quando.

Hi Bob, can’t quibble that Q words are quite quaint.

Hi Yvonne, we’ve been picking the same songs quite a bit, haven’t we! Great minds...

Hi Lynda, me too. Didn’t we all want to know what our future brought... just as well we didn’t know really, isn’t it!

Hi Anne, thanks, I’ve struggled with a couple of letters too.

Hi Rifka, there is NOT going to be a photo of me in a miniskirt on this blog. Please keep those sort of memories to yourself in future!!! Queue isn’t cheating. We used to sing the ABC Minors song while we queued.

Hi Tara and Ladysknight, thank you.

Hi Ali, I thought Quality Street was around for a long time because I remember seeing old tins. Love the sound of your dark green eyeshadow.

Hi Manzanita, sadly the Queen is looking older these days... but then aren’t we all?!

Hi Jaycee, noooooo!!!

Hi Annalisa, and the reason for that protracted ‘noooo’ above is that I didn’t look stylish. I’ve never been a stylish sort of person.

Hi Sara, I love liQuorice but they don’t make it like they used to... or is it me?

Hi Jemi, Hope you’re not still singing. That sort of thing can drive you crazy, can’t it.

Rosalind Adam

I am a writer, committed worrier and nostalgia obsessive with a fascination for all things historical. I am currently enjoying a return to education, studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Leicester University. Please scroll down to see my books...

The Children's Book of Richard III

This is my latest book, illustrated by Alice Povey. Click on the picture to buy a copy or go to Amazon.

Children's History of Leicester

A Children's History of Leicester published by Hometown World Publishers, 2011

Bathtime Rap

Bathtime Rap is a fun children's picture book published by Franklin Watts, 2008.

Heritage Funded Projects

I was lead facilitator on the following two Heritage Lottery funded projects:

Leicester Jewish Voices

In 2009 I coordinated a memories project looking at the Leicester Jewish Community during the 1950s and 60s. You can see the website by clicking on the picture.

Local Cemetery Project

I coordinated the cataloguing of the Jewish section of Leicester Gilroes to provide a genealogical search facility. Subsequent research of a number of the headstones enabled us to record 'The Lives Behind the Stones'. 2014/15